Kenny (was: patience and stability)

["Berry, Mark S" <berrym@BATTELLE.ORG>]

I think Anderson just feeds the natural tendency our two stars have: shoot
first, because I might not get it back if I pass it. Can Kenny contribute to
a good, veteran team? Absolutely. He'd probably be fine with the Knicks. But
when he takes quick shots, even when he makes them, he undermines the
unselfish, pass-first approach this team needs to be successful. We have two
young "stars" (I'm using that term VERY loosely) who like to take a lot of
shots and should be taking a lot of shots. But neither of them understand
that the best way to get good shots is to pass and move. Kenny isn't the guy
to teach them. Combine that with his lousy defense (he's still lousy, even
if he is trying harder), and you have a real problem at the point. 

I'll bet we'd all be shocked at the difference a Jason Kidd would make in
this team. Unfortunately, those guys are few and far between. Payton's a
great player, but he's become a shoot-first point guard. Marbury should be
the best of the bunch when he finally figures it out. Wouldn't this team
look different if that Anderson-Mercer for Marbury trade had happened last
season?

The problem is there are no answers in the draft (those came last year), and
no one wants to trade a good point guard. I'm probably alone in this, but I
wish the Fortson for Williams/Marks trade had gone through. I would have
liked to have seen what a big, defensive-minded point guard would have meant
to this team. (Instead, Fortson is going to walk and we'll get nothing in
return-but that's for another post). I'm hoping we can use the Pitino
connection to somehow land Mark Jackson in the offseason since he's a free
agent, but I doubt it. But he sure would fill one hole nicely, allowing us
to use our pick/Walker/Pierce/Vitaly to address our needs at PF and C.

By the way, even though I swore I would never do it again, I've officially
started rooting against the Celts. I was doing it last night and I'll do it
the rest of the season. There could be some help in this draft, and even if
we don't use the pick, the higher it is, the more valuable in trade. It's
early to start projecting, but if we move up to that 5-6-7 range (it has to
be ahead of Cleveland) we could be looking at Pryzbilla, who may be the
defender and shot-blocker we need in the middle. I've seen him play enough
to be convinced he's no McIlvaine. He's closer to Mutombo.

Mark